Mother Goose: Rock 'n' Rhyme (also known as Shelley Duvall's Mother Goose: Rock 'n' Rhyme or Shelley Duvall's Rock in Rhymeland) is a 1990 American musical television film that aired on the Disney Channel. Starring Shelley Duvall as Little Bo Peep and Dan Gilroy as Gordon Goose, the son of Mother Goose along with a star-studded supporting cast of various other actors and musicians portraying a wide range of characters, mostly of Mother Goose nursery rhyme fame. It was released for the first time on VHS in May 19, 1998 with the help of Lyrick Studios.
The film deals with the events surrounding Gordon Goose and Little Bo Peep, who, while still trying to find her sheep, goes to Mother Goose's house for help, only to discover her sudden absence. Bo Peep and Gordon search Rhymeland to flush out what has happened to Mother Goose, all the while watching as many Mother Goose characters begin to mysteriously disappear.
The film features an all-star cast including:
Shelley Duvall as Little Bo Peep
Jean Stapleton as Mother Goose
Dan Gilroy as Gordon Goose
Cyndi Lauper as Mary (of Mary Had a Little Lamb)
Debbie Harry as The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
Bobby Brown as Three Blind Mice
Little Richard as Old King Cole
Woody Harrelson as Lou the Lamb (of Mary Had a Little Lamb)
Paul Simon as Simple Simon
Art Garfunkel as Georgie Porgie
Garry Shandling as Jack (of Jack and Jill)
Teri Garr as Jill (of Jack and Jill)
Harry Anderson as Peter Piper
David Leisure as The Newscaster/The Game Show Host
Stephen Kearney and Neill Gladwin as The Crooked Man & His Dog/Happy 1 & 2
Howie Mandel as Humpty Dumpty
John Santucci as All the King's Men (of Humpty Dumpty)
Cheech Marin as The Carnival Barker
Van Dyke Parks as The Minister of Merriment
Brian Bonsall as Michael
Katey Sagal as Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
Elayne Boosler as Old Mother Hubbard
Stray Cats (Brian Setzer, Lee Rocker, & Slim Jim Phantom) as Georgie Porgie's House Band
Ben Vereen as Itsy Bitsy Spider
ZZ Top (Billy Gibbons, Joe Hill, & Frank Beard) as Three Men in a Tub
Pia Zadora as Little Miss Muffet
Special guest appearances
Vance Colvig, Jr.
Paul Daniels
Edith, Elena, and Milly Del Rubio
Warren DeMartini, Randy Jackson, Dweezil Zappa & Stephen Bray as Metal Band Musicians in the Dungeon
Jennifer Evans
Seymour Heller
Changes for Rock 'N' Rhymeland (TV Version)
Several edits and changes were made to the audio, musical score, and video for the TV edit. A non-comprehensive list of some of these variations appears below:
Parts of the film play in a different order:
"Mary Had a Little Lamb"
"Little Miss Muffet"
"Jack & Jill"
Several scenes were completely cut:
Mary Quite Contrary complaining about her garden
Old Mother Hubbard and her diner
Gordon rearranging his wardrobe
Gordon's remark about summer vacation
Mary and her lamb disappearing after Little Bo Peep and Gordon leave
The Old Woman in the shoe telling her many children "Wait till your fathers get home," implying she has had many husbands
Introductory speech for Old King Cole
Onscreen lyrics during the "Gordon, Won't You Come Out and Play?" dungeon metal band scene are featured with a "bouncing ball" format to follow along.
Different musical score during the Crooked Man Chase, the Itsy Bitsy Spider scenes, the Little Miss Muffet scene, and the Cow Jumped Over the Moon scenes
Alternative music mix for the Del Rubio Triplets opening "Hop to It"
Alternative intro to Bobby Brown's "Three Blind Mice"
More present and different musical score, with background music playing through most of the film as opposed to various non-musical moments in the uncut version.
The end credits: The uncut version features an original song while the TV version features a longer version of Little Richard's "Party with the King."
